Archive Identifier (ARCID) is a derivative of the UpLoadProcessor (ULP) system;users of ULP do not require this program, as each of the ULP programs haveARCID's abilities built into it.

ARCID is intended for use by people who wish to be able to accurately detect aarchive's format without relying on the file extension, but do not wish to useULP. These people may be sysops using EXZTEST, ZIPLAB, ZDCS, FWKCS, etc., ormay be using their own homemade batch files for testing archives, or even otherpurposes I haven't thought of.

Regardless, ARCID is an extremely simple and fast tool for people who deal withcompressed files on a regular basis.

When you unzip the distribution archive, you should see my PKZIP authenticityverification stamp, and a '-AV' after every file in the archive:

# SSU301 The Bloom Beacon-Picayune BBS

If there are any files missing or added, or the -AV stamp is missing, thearchive has been tampered with. It would be advisable to call my BBS (listedat the top of this document) or one of the support sites listed in theSUPPORT.DOC file for the latest version of ARCID.

4. Program Requirements

To the best of my knowledge, this program will run on most any machine capableof running the popular archivers in use today. My BBS setup is DESQview on aLANtastic network, but other sysops that I have been in contact with havesuccessfully implemented ARCID on setups with CD-ROMs and other varyinghardware.

ARCID has been developed and tested using archives created by the followingarchiving packages:

The ARCID system requires DOS 3.x and up or OS/2 2.x and up, as it uses DOSSHARE-compatible file reads and writes.

ARCID's memory requirements are extremely small (less than 64K). For the batchfile operations, however, it would be a good idea to have as much freeconventional memory as possible (ARCID itself cannot use EMS or XMS memory, andreally couldn't use it if I wanted it to), since the archivers may require asignificant amount of memory.

5. Registration

The ARCID system is not free; nor is ARCID is crippled to force registration.ARCID is fully functional, and will always remain so. The only variation withthe registered copies is no beg message and time delay.

Why register? Besides a clean conscience, you will get a diskette thatincludes the latest version and a registration key that will work for allfuture versions of ARCID, and will remove the message and brief time delay atthe end of execution of ARCID.

The registration fee for your unique code is $15 for non-commercial BBSes. Theregistration fee for commercial BBSes, defined if you run your BBS in thecourse of a commercial business (e.g. more than 10 nodes), is $20. Pleaseprint the file REGISTER.FRM and fill it out. You can print out the form byissuing the following command from the DOS prompt:

TYPE REGISTER.FRM > PRN

6. License, Warranty and Disclaimer

I'll keep this part short and sweet, and dispense with the legal-ese:

License: You are allowed to use ARCID for 30 days, after which you must either register ARCID or stop using it completely. ARCID registration is a license for your use of ARCID; I retain ownership of the software. A single registration applies to a single BBS system, regardless of the number of computers used in the system. If you run two or more distinct BBS systems on the same computer (with different names), you require two or more ARCID registrations. Refer to the registration form for the currect pricing structure.

Warranty: There isn't one. The only thing I'll guarantee is that ARCID will take up disk space, and will disappear when deleted.

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for anything bad that happens. ARCID works here, but I cannot be held responsible for it not working on your computer or doing any damage to hardware or software.

If these aren't agreeable with you, then the best thing to do is delete ARCIDright now. I'll do my best to help any user (registered or not) that wants touse ARCID, and I'll act on bug reports quickly, but I simply cannot and willnot be responsible for anything bad, like lost data, disk crashes, or whateverelse you can think of.

7. Installation

GENERAL:

Copy the file ARCID.COM into a subdirectory that is included in the DOS and/orOS/2 path, so that ARCID may be executed from anywhere. I would suggest yourPCB home directory, usually 'C:\PCB\'. If you have registered ARCID, placea copy of your ARCID.KEY file in the same subdirectory as the ARCIDexecutable(s).

If you are running your BBS under a DOS network or a multitasking operatingsystem, you should already have DOS's SHARE.EXE loaded. Some network operatingsystems (e.g. Novell) have integral SHARE functionality, therefore, SHARE.EXEis not required. You must have SHARE-capability in order to take advantage ofthe file sharing and locking methods used by the DOS ARCID program to preventdata loss. (If you are running a single-node system without a multitasker,SHARE is not needed).

Note that for the ARCID programs, you can obtain a limited program syntaxscreen simply by executing the program name with no arguments.

FOR UPLOAD TESTING USING 'PCBTEST.BAT':

NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with the operation of PCBTEST.BAT, you will needto refer to the PCBoard manual for an explanation of PCBTEST.BAT and/orTESTFILE.EXE.

As necessary, refer to the sample PCBTEST.BAT file included in thisarchive. This simple batch file will test archive integrity and check forviruses for any of the detectable formats of ARCID. This batch file can easilybe expanded to perform more tests.

ARCID.COM is a drop-in replacement of PCBoard's TESTFILE.EXE. If you arealready using TESTFILE.EXE, then simply replace the TESTFILE command in yourbatch file with ARCID. For example, if your current PCBTEST.BAT has thefollowing line:

TESTFILE %1 ZIP ARJ LZH GIF

simply change it to:

ARCID %1 ZIP ARJ LZH GIF

ARCID will return a DOS errorlevel corresponding to the archive's position inthe extension list; for example, if the file passed via %1 is an LZH file,ARCID will return an errorlevel of 3. If the file is identified as one of thelisted formats, ARCID will return an errorlevel of 98. ARCID is capable ofautomatically detecting the formats identified by the following extensions,regardless of the file's true extension:

Do not add 'EXE' to the extension list; ARCID will automatically return tocorresponding errorlevel for an identified self-extracting archive.

8. The Future of ARCID

ARCID will be supported as long as I'm in the BBSing business (which will bequite a while...once it's in your blood, you can never shake it ). TheARCID system will be rapidly expanding it's features; some current plans:

If you have any other suggestions, or want other archivers supported, pleasecontact me by Internet, U.S. snail-mail or on my BBS at the number at the topof this document.

Thanks for giving ARCID a try!

Appendix A: DOS Errorlevels

The errorlevels returned to DOS by the ARCID system programs are consistentamong all of the programs (primarily with the error conditions); the followingis a list of the errorlevels than can be returned by the ARCID programs, alongwith which programs return the codes: